Firm To Revive Cargo Freighting At PHIA

Despite the quantity of
heavy and light equipment used in oil and gas activities being imported into the country, the cargo freighting department of the Port Harcourt. International Airport Omagwa is under developed.
Stakeholders say most clearing and forwarding company that land this cargo in the country preferred to clear these imports from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport due to relatively low tariffs and the risk associated in the haulage of the goods to Port Harcourt.
Reacting on the issue, the Regional General Manager of Port Harcourt International Airport, Mrs Ebele Okoye, explained that the cargo department of the airport has not developed as it should be because  of high custom tariffs on imported goods.
She stated that the tariff discourages clearing agents from importing through the airport, but expressed hope that a new company Prime port, has come to transform cargo freighting at the airport and would start door to door operation.
Chairman of PrimePorts Logistics Mr Femi Adewummi, said due to high tariff, poor logistics cargo freighting has not been successful at the Port Harcourt Airport, noting that over the years the airport has failed to tap into the N630 billion market share available in the Garden city and its environs.
Mr Adewummi said currently, freight operators using air transport facilities only tap into 25 per cent of the 17.5 million kilogrammes of cargo brought into Port Harcourt annually, adding that Port Harcourt and its environs account for 25 per cent of the total cargo brought into the country by air annually.
He said government could attract players in the freight and logistic business by simplifying the operational tariffs to make it attractive for people to fly in their cargo directly into Port Harcourt, noting that it costs freight forwarders N2.50 kobo more by kilogramme to fly their cargo into Port Harcourt as opposed to flying them into Lagos.
According to him, if government is determined to develop the Port Harcourt Airport into a cargo hub, it should provide incentives for stakeholders to facilitate their business.
“Unless government takes urgent steps to fix the challenge of inadequate infrastructure at the airport and streamline tariffs, the desire to turn Port Harcourt International Airport into a regional cargo hub, by 2015, may not be achieved. This could only be achieved if government change the way the industry operates,” he declared.